ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the lead UN agency for international development, is relocating a substantial share of its New York-based posts, and moving them to locations outside the United States.

The UN agency announced on Monday the move is part of an ongoing effort to adapt to an evolving financial and development landscape, strengthen partnerships, and maximize UNDP’s ability to support the world’s most vulnerable people.

The UNDP operates in some 170 countries and territories with a workforce of approximately 22,000, the vast majority of whom -- more than 19,000 -- serve in country offices and regional hubs, while fewer than 7 percent are based in New York, with the remainder in other locations. New York will remain the UNDP’s global headquarters.

The United States has announced its intention to withdraw from a host of UN organisations’ programmes and initiatives focusing on a wide range of crucial areas, including climate change crisis, trade, gender and development.

The move is part of an ‘ongoing effort to adapt to an evolving financial and development landscape’

Several of the bodies listed in the White House Memorandum are funded principally or partially by the regular UN budget, implying that voluntary funding will be impacted, although central funding will continue. However, the White House notes that its funding review of international organisations “remains ongoing”, and it is currently unclear what the impact of the announcement will be.

The relocation will affect almost 400 posts, with approximately three-quarters of them transferring to Bonn (Germany) and about one quarter to Madrid (Spain). The UNDP’s overall footprint in Bonn will now exceed 400 positions as it is already the longstanding home of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, part of the UNDP family, the UNDP says.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2026